Improvement in apparatus for steaming yarn



.Io-IIN II.. HIGGINS, or New YORK, N. Y.

Letters Patent No. 99,189, dated January 25, 1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS POR STEAMIN'G YARN.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom lt may concern:

Be it known that I, J oHN H. HIGGINS, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for Steaming Yarns and other fibrous material, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description,reference bein g had to the accompanying drawing, forming part of this specification, and in which- Figure l represents a side elevation of acarriage or frame, constituting my improved apparatus, andA Figure 2, a plan of the same.

Figure 3, an end View, and

Figure 4, a central transverse section thereof.

Figure 5 is a plan of a skeleton frame for holding the vyarns or material to be treated.

Similar letters of reference indicate correspondingr parts.

My improvement is more especially designed to be applied to the steaming of printed or variously-colored yarns or warps, as used in the manufacturey of carpets, and will here be described in such connection; and

The invention consists in a novel construction of apparatus involving a new or different mode of procedure or process for accomplishing such work, whereby the same is eected more expeditiously and perfectly, and the use of strawor rice-hulls, as covering-material for the yarns while being steamed, is dispensed with.

In fixing the colors of such yarns by steaming, it has been customary to place the yarns, in hanks or otherwise, in wooden boxes,the bottoms of which were formed with openings at intervals, for the steam to reach the yarns, which were covered with cnt straw orrice-hnlls, to absorb the surplus color, and prevent staining or damage of the yarns by running of the colors or dripping from the one box to the other, the boxes being piled one upon or over the other, on a v frame or carriage, for running them into the steaming.

box or chamber.

Such forms a slow and .defective process, and very imperfect-ly-exposes the yarns to the action of the steam, while it is expensive and otherwise objectionable, by reason of thequant-ity of straw or rice-hulls required to cover the yarns, and the frequent necessary renewal of such covering.

Under my improvement, I employ a frame, constructed substantially as shown in the accompanying drawing, in which- A is the carriage-portion of the frame, provided with flanged wheels a, for travel on suitablerails, to facilitate transportation to and fromthe steam-box.

On this carriage is erected a structure which embraces end-portions or frame-sections, B B, formed of a veitical standard, and branches or arms b b, arranged in pairs or sets, one above the other, and lying or run.- ning in opposite directions toward the sides ofthe apparatus..

These arms b b are formed to incline upward, in an outwardly direction, on their under side, to correspond with the dip of dripping-plates or trays C C, lying between the end-frames B B, and which incline downward from opposite sides toward a centre clearance or space, c, but which may incline in reverse directions, and the arms b b be otherwise shaped or constructed, to receive through them stretcliing-screws e e, jointed or otherwise secured t the ends of .the trays,`and operated by nuts d d on the outside of the arms b b.

Said trays G C may bev made of zinc or other suitable metal or material, andare supported between the end-sections B B, by passing over and resting on rods f f, arranged below the bottom edges of arms b b, of intermediate sections B' B', of similar construction to the sections or portions B B of the frame, and united therewith by brace or tie-rods g g.

The yarns to be steamed are.carried,in hanks, by loose and independent skeleton4 frames D, of a suitable length and size to lie lupon thearms b and-b', above the dripping-plates or trays on each side of the central standards of the main frame.

These yarn-carrying frames D are made up of a net- -work of twine extending over their entire surface, so that the yarns lying on said nets are fully and freely exposed to the action of the steam.

In this way, or by this improvement, the yarns may be steamed more expeditiously and perfectly; there is no danger of staining or injuring them; thev drip or waste is prevented by the trays from running from box or frame to frame, carrying the yarns, and is conveyed away to a point or line of delivery out of reach of the yarn-holding frames, and the necessity for cut straw or rice-hulls, as a covering to the yarns, is altogether dispensed with.

What is here claimed, and desired. to be secured-by Letters Patent, is v 1. The combination of a steaming-frame or'structure, made up of or carrying a series of inclined dripping-plates or trays, arranged, the one above the other, and net or open-work yarn-carrying frames, substantially as and forthe purpose or purposes specified.

2. The combination, in the one apparatus, of a lower carriage-portion oiln'heel-basc, A, the main frame or frame-sections B B', with their arms or branches b b', and the inclined dripping-plates or trays C, essentially as shown and described.

3. The dripping-plates or trays O, provided with Istretching or straining-screws e, and nuts l at their ends, in combination with the frame-sectionsB B, and intermediate carrying-rods or supports f j, substantially as described.

JOHN H. HIGGINS.

Witnesses FRED. HAYNEs,

HENRY PALMER. 

